Women and Social Security:

Abstract

This article explores some major assumptions underlying the Social Security system and alternative approaches to rendering the system more economically viable, meeting the income needs of the elderly and/or providing greater equity under its benefit and taxation provisions. It attempts to show that the current structure of Social Security not only reinforces but also exacerbates the underlying economic inequalities in our nation's political economy under the guise of a social insurance program. In addressing selected benefit and taxation issues, the article focuses on how working and older women are faring in the 1990s under the Social Security system. It argues that although the program theoretically is gender neutral, its impact is not. Women, particularly those who are single, are poorly served. The article concludes that a progressive restructuring of the Social Security system itself is imperative if we are to meet the needs of a large percentage of workers, older people, and the economic and social demands of the 1990s and beyond. It also offers some suggestions for such change.

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